The war machine rages onwards! If you don’t like Bolt Thrower, then pity yourself and move onto the next review! If you do like Bolt Thrower, do you really need to read this? No! Go and buy this album now!

It has been a while since For Victory was unleashed, and the B.T. camp has gone through lots of trouble to keep the fire blazing, but the wait is over! So what can you expect from the new album? Techno-death metal? Acoustic guitars and female vocals? Keyboard-riddens vampyric war metal? Hell no! You can expect pure Bolt Thrower! Mercenary closely resembles For Victory in style and sound. There’s not much progression on this album, but for Bolt Thrower and their fans, that is what is expected. Punishing guitars of the heaviest kind, pounding battle-hymn drums, and vocals in the purest of B.T. tradition, courtesy of Karl Willets, who returned to the fold after things didn’t work out with Martin van Drunen. Although it would have been killer to hear Martin sing/vomit with B.T., it is great to hear Karl again. But unfortunately, Karl has left the band recently, and B.T. have recruited Benediction’s David Ingram for vocal duties.

And Bolt Thrower have a new drummer! His name’s Alex Thomas and he kicks ass. He fits into B.T. perfectly, without deviating too much from all that Andy Whale has instilled within the B.T. style and sound. Clean, precise, and great double bass. I do, however, wish that they brought back a touch of the old-style blast beat that gave a little more variety to Warmaster, but oh well.

If you can, try and get the European limited edition digipak version of this CD, it has an unlisted bonus track! And don’t worry, it’s not some lame cover song or anything, it’s a typical yet awesome Bolt Thrower song!